Arrived at Ynyshir to find John and Bob already there. We had arranged to meet to check the very high tide (5.7m) and by the time we got into the Saltings hide the river was already up to the railway embankment.
On a little island, a tightly backed mass of Curlew, Redshank and Oystercatchers eventually repaid scanning by revealing nine Bar-tailed Godwits and a Snipe.
15 Red-breasted Mergansers was a good count and among the commoner wildfowl we found a Goosander, single male Pintail and Goldeneye and three Shoveler, two m and a f, with another three m on Ynys Edwin pool on the way back.
The highlight came later, as we were on the higher ground looking upriver across the saltings, when a party of geese flew in and landed on the saltings on our side, just near the first bend of the river.
What we initially had as 25 Greenland whitefronts turned out to be, on closer inspection by Bob, 24 whitefronts and a Bean Goose.
When the geese flew off downriver after a few minutes, we made our way back, pausing only to try for lesser pecker, to no avail, but well contented with the morning's birding.
Excuse the photos, I think John got some better ones.